This August, students, faculty and staff at Easterly Parkway Elementary School welcomed a new principal. Danielle Yoder replaces Michael Maclay, who stepped down last December to take a teaching position after serving as principal since 2012.

Prior to joining the State College Area School District, Yoder served as the Title I and assessment coordinator and later as the principal of Penns Valley Elementary and Intermediate School. Her 26-year career in education also included teaching 7th and 8th grade reading, language arts and math at Midd-West School District.

Yoder is grateful for her time at the Penns Valley Area School District, but is thrilled to bring her expertise to SCASD. She was often inspired by State College’s education initiatives and is looking forward to being part of a larger, leading district that can offer more to their students.

“By joining the State College team, I now have the opportunity to lead while I learn and have opportunities to work with a more diverse population of parents, students, community members and educators,” she says. “At State College, I now get to be part of a much larger administrative team that shares ideas and practices. I have never worked in a district that has some of the resources that a larger district, like State College, can provide, and I believe these resources are a huge value to a school district.”

The faculty, staff and administrators at Easterly Parkway also share her team approach to education. Yoder is excited to work among a large group of educators with whom she can collaborate and who can offer different perspectives and viewpoints.

“I believe in the power of teamwork and believe that by working collaboratively with both staff and parents, together we will make a difference,” she says. “People who know me well have often heard me refer to the old adage of, "It takes a village to raise a child," and trust me, from what I have seen thus far at Easterly, our village is strong!”

Though Yoder has only just begun her tenure at Easterly Parkway, she is continually reminded that she has joined an exceptional school community. As a testament to this, she shared an anecdote about an  international family that recently joined the school:

“I had the opportunity of showing the father the classrooms. The man shared he had planned to have his children attend a local charter school when he moved here. However, the children in his neighborhood shared so many great things about Easterly that his son asked his dad to let them attend here, and he supported his son and enrolled them with us. He said the neighbors talked about our hands-on science and how much they enjoyed the teachers and other students at the school.

“When I walked his two children and him to their classrooms, both of my teachers should have been at lunch, however, upon hearing I was coming with their new students, they were both waiting in their rooms with open arms. The first teacher approached the younger child, who was apprehensive about leaving her dad, and she began to make connections with the child immediately, and soon the child agreed to walk with her to the room. The second had already learned her new student's name and enthusiastically met us at her door where she proceeded to introduce herself, share what she already had learned and correctly pronounced everyone's names. The dad chuckled, looked at her and asked her to pronounce it for me because I had struggled. We all laughed. Within five minutes, I witnessed two teachers, two students and a father beaming with joy. The children waved goodbye and the father said, ‘And this is why my kids will come to Easterly Parkway! My son was right, and I know I made the right choice.’"  

Here’s to a happy beginning for this family and for Principal Yoder!